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From: Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: evolution of bytes, The joy of FORTRAN
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2025 23:38:55 -0000 (UTC)
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On Mon, 3 Mar 2025 06:54:32 -0700, Peter Flass wrote:

> This was probably a reaction against PL/I where sizes are specified
> explicitly, such as “bit(8) unsigned”.

Computers had a whole range of word sizes in those days. What was the best 
way to write portable code? The PL/I approach was to let the programmer 
explicitly specify the number of bits and digits for everything, and damn 
the inefficiency.